Applications of appropriate technology in wastewater treatment and reuse for rural communities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36829/08ASA.v20i1.2087Keywords:
wastewater, rural sanitation, appropiate technology, constructed wetlands, anaerobic reactors, reuse, sustainabilityAbstract
Wastewater treatment in rural communities requires decentralized solutions that can be operated locally and adapted to economic, climatic, and social constraints. This article presents a systematic review of 28 studies published between 2021 and 2025 on appropriate technologies for rural wastewater treatment and reuse. The search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using terms related to rural sanitation, decentralized technologies, constructed wetlands, anaerobic reactors, biofiltration, waste stabilization ponds, reuse, and sustainability. The findings show that constructed wetlands commonly report 80-95% removal of conventional pollutants, anaerobic reactors achieve approximately 70-90% BOD reduction with low energy demand, and hybrid systems can produce higher-quality effluents at the cost of greater operational complexity. The evidence indicates that performance depends not only on technical efficiency but also on climate, land availability, hydraulic loading, maintenance capacity, and community participation. Appropriate technologies are viable alternatives for rural sanitation when selected through explicit technical and contextual criteria.
Downloads
References
Anang, S., Nasr, M., Fujii, M., & Ibrahim, M. G. (2024). Synergism of Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Development Goals Techniques to Evaluate Downflow Hanging Sponge System Treating Low-Carbon Wastewater. Sustainability, 16(5), 2035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16052035
Anvari, S., Moghaddasi, M., Rashedi, E., & El-Shafie, A. (2025). Comparative analysis of three soft computing techniques for optimizing reservoir rule curves. Water Practice and Technology, 20(3), 714–731. https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2025.029
Biswal, B. K., & Balasubramanian, R. (2022). Constructed wetlands for reclamation and reuse of wastewater and urban stormwater: A review. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 836289. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.836289
Chen, P., Zhao, W., Chen, D., Huang, Z., Zhang, C., & Zheng, X. (2022). Research Progress on Integrated Treatment Technologies of Rural Domestic Sewage: A Review. Water, 14(15), 2439. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152439
de Campos, S. X., & Soto, M. (2024). The Use of Constructed Wetlands to Treat Effluents for Water Reuse. Environments, 11(2), 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11020035
de Simone Souza, H. H., de Morais Lima, P., Medeiros, D. L., Vieira, J., Magalhães Filho, F. J. C., Paulo, P. L., Fullana-i-Palmer, P., & Boncz, M. Á. (2023). Environmental assessment of on-site source-separated wastewater treatment and reuse systems for resource recovery in a sustainable sanitation view. Science of the Total Environment, 895, 165122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165122
Desye, B., Belete, B., Alemseged, E. A., Angaw, Y., & Gebrezgi, Z. A. (2022). Evaluation of waste stabilization pond efficiency and its effluent water quality: A case study of Kito Furdisa Campus, Jimma University, Southwest Ethiopia. The Scientific World Journal, 2022, Article 2800034. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2800034
dos Santos, S. L., & van Haandel, A. (2021). Transformation of Waste Stabilization Ponds: Reengineering of an Obsolete Sewage Treatment System. Water, 13(9), 1193. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091193
Du, X., Liang, Z., Li, J., Qiu, Y., Song, W., Wang, Z., Zhao, Z., & Zhang, W. (2024). Electrocoagulation enhanced gravity driven membrane bioreactor for advanced treatment of rural sewage. Journal of Environmental Management, 353, 120191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120191
Gabr, M. E., El-Rawy, M., Al-Arifi, N., Zijl, W., & Abdalla, F. (2023). A Subsurface Horizontal Constructed Wetland Design Approach for Wastewater Treatment: Application in Ar Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sustainability, 15(22), 15927. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215927
Garrido-Baserba, M., Sedlak, D.L., Molinos-Senante, M. et al. Using water and wastewater decentralization to enhance the resilience and sustainability of cities. Nat Water 2, 953–974 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00303-9
Gholipour, A., & Stefanakis, A. I. (2021). A full-scale anaerobic baffled reactor and hybrid constructed wetland for university dormitory wastewater treatment and reuse in an arid and warm climate. Ecological Engineering, 170, 106360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2021.106360
Li, X., Zhang, X., Zhao, M., Zheng, X., Wang, Z., & Fan, C. (2024). Application of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Technology in Rural Domestic Wastewater Treatment. Sustainability, 16(19), 8635. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198635
Liu, L., Wang, J., Gao, J., Wang, Q., & Lao, T. (2023). Research on Rural Wastewater Treatment Technology in Northwest China Based on Anaerobic Biofilm Coupled with Anaerobic Baffle Plate Reactor (ABR) Technology. Sustainability, 15(11), 8957. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118957
Mahapatra, S., Samal, K., & Dash, R. R. (2022). Waste stabilization pond (WSP) for wastewater treatment: A review on factors, modelling and cost analysis. Journal of Environmental Management, 308, 114668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114668
Mahdi, Fatimah K., Abu-Alhail, Saad and Dawood, Ammar Salman. "Performance of the anaerobic baffled reactor for primary treatment of rural domestic wastewater in Iraq" Open Engineering, vol. 12, no. 1, 2022, pp. 859-865. https://doi.org/10.1515/eng-2022-0346
Mladenov, N., Sanfilippo, S., Panduro, L., Pascua, C., Arteaga, A., & Pietruschka, B. (2024). Tracking performance and disturbance in decentralized wastewater treatment systems with fluorescence spectroscopy. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 10(6), 1506–1516. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EW00671A
Monzón-Reyes, B. L., González-Moreno, H. R., Month, A. E. Á., Peralta Vega, A. J., Ballut-Dajud, G., & Sandoval Herazo, L. C. (2025). Wastewater Management Strategies in Rural Communities Using Constructed Wetlands: The Role of Community Participation. Earth, 6(2), 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/earth6020018
Pérez, Y., Vargas, E., García-Cortés, D., Hernández, W., Checo, H., & Jáuregui-Haza, U. (2024). Efficiency and effectiveness of systems for the treatment of domestic wastewater based on subsurface flow constructed wetlands in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. Water Science and Engineering, 17(2), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wse.2023.08.004
Ribarova, I., Vasilaki, V., & Katsou, E. (2024). Review of linear and circular approaches to on-site domestic wastewater treatment: Analysis of research achievements, trends and distance to target. Journal of Environmental Management, 367, 121951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121951
Sousa, A. da R., Pelissari, C., Laureano, A. T., & Sezerino, P. H. (2024). Effluent quality and reuse potential of wastewater treated in constructed wetlands in Southern Brazil. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 14(5), 377–388. https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2024.306
Subramanian, K., & Suresh, K. (2024). Decentralized wastewater treatment enhancing sustainability in rural communities. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 113, 625–630. https://doi.org/10.3303/CET24113105
Ullah, N., Sheikh, Z., Ahmad, O., & Khan, S. J. (2024). Performance Evaluation of Sponge Anaerobic Baffled Reactor for Municipal Wastewater Treatment. Sustainability, 16(21), 9398. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16219398
Wang, F., Yao, K., Liu, B., & Zhang, D. (2022). Risk Analysis of Reservoir Resettlers with Different Livelihood Strategies. Water, 14(21), 3530. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213530
Xu, C., Liu, R., & Chen, L. (2023a). Removal of Phosphorus from Domestic Sewage in Rural Areas Using Oyster Shell-Modified Agricultural Waste–Rice Husk Biochar. Processes, 11(9), 2577. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11092577
Xu, C., Liu, R., Tang, Q., Hou, Y., Chen, L., & Wang, Q. (2023b). Adsorption Removal of Phosphate from Rural Domestic Sewage by Ca-Modified Biochar Derived from Waste Eggshell and Sawdust. Water, 15(17), 3087. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15173087
Xu, J., Du, Y., Xu, Y., Chen, F., Zhou, L., Sun, J., & Qiu, T. (2025). Review of the application of bacterial–algae symbiotic systems in nitrogen removal from aquaculture effluent: Principles, performance enhancement, resource utilization, and challenges. Water Reuse, 15(2), 230–254. https://doi.org/10.2166/wrd.2025.009
Zakrisson, L., Sundberg, C., Larsson, G., Azzi, E. S., & Dalahmeh, S. S. (2024). Life cycle assessment of biochar filters for on-site wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 371, 123265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123265
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Agua, Saneamiento & Ambiente
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
